In a series of legal battles starting in 1882, South Asian Muslims made
up of modernists, traditionalists, reformists, Shias and Sunnis
attempted to modify the laws relating to their places of worship. Their
efforts failed as the ideals they presented flew in the face of colonial
secularism. This book looks at the legal history of Muslim endowments
and the intellectual and social history of sectarian identities,
demonstrating how these topics are interconnected in ways that affected
the everyday lives of mosque congregants across North India. Through the
use of legal records, archives and multiple case studies Sana Haroon
ties a series of narrative threads stretching across multiple regions in
Colonial South Asia.